Anesthesia Coding Alert
Training Makes the Difference Between Performing 93312 and 93313
Question: A coder who is new to our practice says that you should code TEE differently depending on whether the provider is certified or not. I’ve never heard of this. Is she right?
Ohio Subscriber
Answer: Correct TEE (transesophageal echocardiography) coding depends first on the anesthesiologist’s service. For example, did he just put in the probe for monitoring (93313, Echocardiography, transesophageal, real-time with image documentation [2D] [with or without M-mode recording]; placement of transesophageal probe only) or did he perform a diagnostic TEE (93312, … including probe placement, image acquisition, interpretation and report) that will actually help diagnose problems when done in conjunction with a heart surgery?
Secondly, if he completed a diagnostic TEE, he is required to be specially “trained” to be able to bill it. Not every anesthesiologist can perform a diagnostic TEE. There is not actually a code that shows the anesthesiologist is certified to perform TEE; the anesthesiologist must have the education necessary to perform the service. As a coder, you must know whether your anesthesiologist is specifically trained in TEEs so you can correctly bill his services.
One more point: If the anesthesiologist does perform a diagnostic TEE, he must create a separate diagnostic report dictated with his findings.
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